Brazilian GP: FP3 sees mixed result for Williams Martini

By Andrew Hooper
November 10 2018

The final Saturday practice for the 2018 Brazilian GP would see the Williams Martini team achieve a bit of a mixed result with Sergey Sirotkin finishing in 15th and Lance Stroll 17th. It was a session that would see both drivers using used soft tyres early on prior to switching to the supersoft tyre for additional runs. But in what was assumed to be their qualifying simulations neither driver would improve. If they can reverse this in qualifuong there is a chance that one if not both drivers can make it into Q2. Sergey certainly is very close in terms of his times to achieving this.

Williams
Martini Brazilian GP Saturday Practice

Team Summary:
The final hour of practice for the 2018 Brazilian GP would see drivers come
out for their installation laps running on a mix of soft and supersoft
tyres. The track would empty with Raikkonen next to come out using the
supersoft tyre. He would set a time of 1m:09.424 while the Williams drivers
would be second and third as Raikkonen set a 1m:09.409 to improve his
quickest times. More drivers were coming out and it would be Vettel who
would go quickest with a 1m:08.857 on the supersoft tyre. Raikkonen was now
second followed now by Sainz. Bottas would go third as Hamilton pitted
without setting a time. Leclerc was now fourth followed by Gasly, Ericsson,
Sainz and Alonso. The Williams drivers were now ninth and tenth. The top six
were all on the supersoft tyre.

Hulkenberg would move up to fifth seeing the Williams drivers now 10th and
11th. Gasly and Ericsson were now ahead of Hulkenberg with the Renault's now
7th and 8th. Bottas was now second with a 1m:09.310 while the Williams pair
were now 14th and 15th. Leclerc was now fourth followed by Grosjean and
Magnussen. The Hass drivers were both on the soft tyre. The Williams drivers
wree now 15th and 16th with thirty minutes remaining. Hamilton would return
and would set a time for second behind Vettel. After their supersoft tyre
runs the Williams drivers would be 9th and 11th with Sergey leading Lance.
Ricciardo was now fourth and Verstappen fifth both on the supersoft tyre.
Raikkonen was now quickest with a 1m:08.490 after a run on new supersoft
tyres. Vettel would improve to go quicker with a 1m:07.948 seeing Raikkonen
now second followed by Hamilton and Bottas. Bottas would improve to be
second behind Vettel.

With twenty minutes remaining the Williams pair were 11th and 14th. Vettel
was quickest from Bottas, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Ricciardo, Verstappen,
Leclerc, Grosjean, Magnussen and Gasly tenth. Fifteen minutes remaining and
only Hamilton was on the track. but he would be joined by others with
qualifying simulations were the focus. Hamilton would go second but he was
0.2 behind Vettel. Grosjean was out on his first supersoft run joined by
Magnussen. Grosjean would move up to sixth as more drivers were coming out
on new supersoft tyres. Leclerc would improve his time but remained eighth.
Magnussen was now sixth ahead of team-mate Grosjean. Ocon would move up to
10th as Verstappen went fifth and Ricciardo was now sixth. With the end of
the session it would be Vettel still quickest followed by Hamilton, Bottas,
Raikkonen, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Grosjean, Gasly and Leclerc
tenth. The William drivers would finish in 15th and 17th with Sergey ahead
of Lance. Another reasonable practice that must give them some hope of
making it into the second period of qualifying..

Lance Stroll:
Lance would follow his team-mate out also on used soft tyres. Lance was on a
timed lap but would say his tyres aren't ready. He would set a slow
1m:24.603. His next lap was a 1m:10.920 to be second. Lance would also pit
after a five lap run. In his pit Lance would drop to 10th with just under
forty minutes remaining. This would become 16th as he returned to the track
for a run on the supersoft tyre. He would set a 1m:10.037 to be 11th. This
would become 13th then 14th as Hulkenberg moved ahead of him. Lance was back
out on new supersoft tyres for his final run. Lance would drop to 15th as he
started his run. This would become 17th having failed to improve his time.
He would pit after a six lap run ending his session.

Sergey Sirotkin:
Sergey would come out for his first run using used soft tyres and would set
a 1mn:11.169 pitting the next lap. Sergey was third as he sat in the pits.
Sergey had dropped to 11th but this would become 16th. Sergey would return
for a run on the supersoft tyre. he would set a 1m:09.886 to be eighth. He
would drop to ninth ahead of Ericsson. This would become 11th and he would
pit after a six lap run. With under ten minutes remaining Sergey would
return on new supersoft tyres. He would improve his first sector but would
not improve his position of 11th. He would drop to 15th as others moved
ahead. Sergey would pit after a five lap run ending his practice. He would
be just four tenths outside the top ten.

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